private of deaths, the death of a man who was a father figure of so many people. and yet, also a very public day of mourning, thousands coming together in the capital. for so many, hugo chavez was not just their father, but an icon, there, and donte -- their commandante and president. >> tens of thousands of people will come out into caracas to mourn the life of a man and his death, but also to celebrate his life and what it meant for the poor in latin america. >> as his coffin was carried through the streets, his supporters paid respects to a man who knew what it meant to be poor and hungry. hugo chavez worked to close the wealth gap and stamp out corruption. but his political journey took him even further to the left and

many saw no authoritarian who wasted the nation's oil wealth and wrecked an economy. above all, he is seen as a leader with charisma and championing the rights of the poor. >> there is no more important leader in this century. he is the most important person to our country. we need to rise to the new future. >> there was cheering, not mourning, for some of venezuela 's expatriates' living in america. >> we should not celebrate the death of a human being, but today is the start of a new venezuela. it is the start of a new future and a new hope, especially because we can stop emigrating. we should live in our own country. >> there was a subtle response from the white house, with president obama offering support to the people and hoping for a better relationship ahead.

hugo chavez was his -- was controversial overseas, a friend to those who defied america and the west, mocking president bush as the devil in front of the united nations. but even there today, a brief moment of silent tribute. this is a moment of change, undoubtedly. also, this is not about politics. it is about a man and a deep, a visceral sense of loss. >> hugo chavez's koffman has just arrived at the military academy -- coffin has just arrived at the military academy, where he will lie in state until friday. i spoke with the former venezuelan minister of trade who joins us from new york. well hugo chavez's brand of populism outlive him? >> it will. there are several forces that he unleashed in the country that

are going to be there for awhile. at the front of the debate, the poor and needy. he was very vehement about their exclusion he also did that in a highly polarized in fashion. the politics of rage and revenge have become part of the political fabric of the country and that is one of the many wounds that need to be late -- shield, whoever -- that needs to be healed, whoever his successor is. >> you think that will come with the election, whenever that is? >> this is not an end -- a normal election when there is a political party that runs an incumbent in government. the opposition is most likely going to run against a powerful machine.

it is going to run against the state, where the checks and balances that are normally involved are not in place. it is a government that has never shied away from massively using the resources of the state, the money and the vehicles and forcing and coercing and inducing employees to rally and vote for the president. we are not talking about a normal democratic process where elections are held between two equivalents. >> know, clearly it is very different you were that trade minister in a previous government. what is the state of the economy there now? >> that will be the challenge for whoever becomes the next president. venezuela is now undergoing some adjustments. in order to win the election last year, president chavez just had a massive expansion of public spending. there's a lot of money in the street. people have money in their pockets and things were going well.

now, the time has come to retrench. there is a reduction on public spending, on imports. there was a recent evaluation. inflation will be significant, and there are shortages. one of the biggest surprises is that the oil-rich country that imports $56 billion, which is a lot for that size of population, is rife with shortages of very basic goods. that will be part of whatever happens next. the economy is going to be front and center. >> countries from haiti to brazil have declared days of mourning for hugo chavez. do you expect the next president of venezuela to have that same leadership in the region? >> not really. his international presence was a function of his stature, his charisma. he was larger than life as a leader, as correspondent

mentioned. and he was in all major arenas in public opinion in the world. but also, he had a lot of money to give away. his international presence and whatever influence he had internationally had to do with his charisma, but also, deep pockets. and he was able to use that, venezuelan money, in ways that no other presidents have before in terms of no constraint and no checks and balances and no accounting. he was able to just give money away, and that buys you a lot of friends. >> thank you very much for joining us. today, the un security council has strongly condemned the detention of more than 20 peacekeepers by members of the syrian opposition. the peacekeepers are in a volatile zone that separates israel and syria. this comes on top of the already deteriorating situation inside the country. the u.n. said roughly 1 million

people have been registered as refugees. nearly a quarter of those have fled into jordan. here is a report. >> out of the darkness from syria, frightened people walk the last steps to safety. this is just one crossing place out of nearly 50 along the border. and every night, they come. an injured man is treated by jordanian soldiers. the armed on the syrian side, pe out of a search light sweet the borderlands. earlier, and a different crossing. since the start of the year, nearly half a million have fled, a dramatic upsurge since the fighting intensified spirit the majority are women and -- the fighting intensified. the majority are women and children, the old and the most vulnerable. >> it may be two years since the revolution began, and night

after night, it seems like scenes like this are being repeated a long syria's borders. it is estimated that in jordan alone, nearly half a million refugees are here. >> this camp shelters nearly 120,000 people. the u.k.'s pledge of aid for rabble-held areas inside syria comes as the -- for the rebel- held areas inside your comes as the united nations has pledged more aid for the country. britain has pledged a large amount, but the u.n. says the world must give more urgently. >> what we have been able to do is one-quarter of what we have to do. >> in lebanon, refugees live outside camps. here in an old present -- prison where each this used to sell houses a family that has fled syria. this child is 9 years old and

her father is in jail in syria. >> we miss him, and i miss him a lot, and we love him alive. -- are locked. -- we love him a lot. i wish serio would return to what it was, so i could play with my friends and have fun. i miss the days when my dad would go to work and come home. >> a year ago, most refugees and that had faith they would go home soon. but 12 months of escalating violence have left people like this without hope. at 105 years of age, she is the oldest of the refugees in this camp. >> i came out of the fire. i saw so many young people lying dead in the streets. someone took me on a motorbike

and then put me in a car and took me out of the village. i do not know where i am now. >> born when marty empires ruled the world, she told me that she simply wanted -- when miti empires ruled the world, she told me that she simply wanted to die now. >> more on the situation driving people out of syria, i spoke a brief time ago with a senior fellow at the hoover institution who joins us in new york. you said the un has only the one quarter of the money it needs. why are governments so slow to give that help that is needed? but that is a good question. nearly 1 million syrians have left -- >> that is a good question. nearly 1 million series have left their country and spilled into jordan, iraq, and turkey.

this is an understatement. there are well over 1 million. there are probably -- it is a human calamity. another refugee camps in turkey, what you see there is a heartbreak. what you see is the decimation of a country. some of these governments do their best to cope with this crisis, but they are overwhelmed. >> how much strain you think it is putting on lebanon and jordan? >> what you have is incredible strain, all the way from the iranian border to the mediterranean. and in the case of lebanon, lebanon is most directly impacted by the syrian refugee crisis. you have a split in lebanon between the cities to support the rebellion and the shiites who support hezbollah and iran and therefore, bashar al-assad. and then you have the christians who are divided. in the case of jordan, their worries are economic as well as

the morning after. about this fight spilling into jordan. and jordan is having an economic crisis on its own anyway. the government cannot deal with this crisis. it is not just a humanitarian crisis, but fundamentally, a big political crisis. >> are the fighters link to these serious opposition detained peacekeepers? how dangerous of an escalation in the conflict is that? >> this conflict, in a way, it is overflowing the banks. it is going up everywhere. this episode on the golan heights is small compared to what is happening elsewhere. >> do you think that john kerry is saying the u.s. supports other countries are mindy syrian rebels, and you think that is a

shift in rhetoric? >> i think it is actually a great disappointment. the secretary of -- promised the syrian opposition that they have a new policy. they did not want to attend the meeting in rome. he told them there's a new policy. he promised a new policy. he now wants to see the end of bashar al-assad, but the american government does not want to help this rebellion. and the only way the held really mean something is to arm this rebellion. anything short of that is the old american abdication on syria that continues from his predecessor, secretary clinton. >> thank you for joining us. in other news, the battle is brewing over egypt's elections. a lot covering people needed to be reviewed by the court, and so the vote was suspended.

egypt said it would repeal this decision. a taxi driver died last week after being dragged behind a police van in south africa. nelson mandela's wife was among those in morning. you're watching bbc world news america. still to come, the roman catholic church prepares for a new leader. we look at one of its greatest challenges. the fighting when the numbers in europe and beyond. -- fighting dwindling numbers in europe and beyond. now for an update to a story that seems straight out of a hollywood script. in january, the artistic director of the bolshoi ballet was attacked with acid. now the police said that none other than the company's lead dancer has confessed to the assault. two other men are under arrest, one accused of carrying out the attack and the other being the

getaway driver. we have been following all the twists. >> wielding a dagger and wearing a red cape, one of the bolshoi ballet's star dancers, now accused of ordering an acid attack on the company's artistic director. he was detained in a police station overnight where detectives say he wrote a statement confessing to the crime. >> they release this video, which shows him looking tired and nervous. he tells an anonymous questionnaire that he organized the attack, but says it went further than he attended -- intended. when asked why he did it, he said it is all in the written confession. nouri is the man police claim actually through the acid. he has also written a confession, but refused to say

anything for the camera. it is not clear who is asking the questions. sayre guay -- sertgei was badly burned by the attack. a former dancer himself, he has left moscow for treatment in germany. doctors are trying to save his side. he chooses to dances for the bolshoi, and detectives believe it was anger at his decisions that probably lead to the attack. >> for 38, cardinals from all over the globe have been meeting in rahm, at of -- for three days, cardinals from all over the globe have been meeting in rome. they face huge challenges. congregations are declining and

fewer young men are becoming priests. our special correspondent is in italy for us. >> if european catholicism has a heartland, it is here. for centuries, pilgrims have come to the tomb of saint francis of assisi. here and across italy, religion is called into the architecture. the community that has been growing for centuries is in decline. they're lacking a generation of young priests and monks and to fill the pulpits. the young are no longer answering the call. the church in italy is aging. only in the developing world is the catholic faith growing. father joseph is in training to the franciscan friar. he is one of only 14 left in

this vast seminary. and he is from zambia. >> in africa, the catholic church is growing in numbers. >> what is your impression of the state of the church in europe? but the numbers are going down -- >> the numbers are going down. in europe is getting out of touch. >> that new reality of a church increasingly anchor in the developing world is not reflected in the vatican hierarchy. two-thirds of the cardinals gathered here to choose the next pope are from europe or north america. and out there in the parishes, where the pastoral work goes on, the world around them is changing fast. geobotany is a parish priest in the suburbs of rome. he is an energetic and engaging

pastoral presence, close to an clearly adored by, his parishioners. but he knows the young are drifting away. >> the young people, they are, how do you say, removed from the church. the church is almost everywhere. [in discernible] >> you see it in the faces of the faithful. young italians are less likely to go to church than their parents, less likely to believe in god, less likely to define themselves as catholics. elsewhere in catholic europe in france, spain, ireland, the trend is even more pronounced. >> this is a question that preoccupied pope benedict. he wondered what he called -- he wanted what he called a new evangelization of the west to

roll back the secular tide and to bring people in the developed world back into the church. >> and it is a question for the new pope, how to narrow the widening gap between the conservative and centralize hierarchy in rome, and the church out there in a distant and unfamiliar wider world. abc news, rome. >> the challenges facing the catholic church. now, patmon and -- pac-man and tetras, video games that many of us have spent hours playing. those gains along with a dozen others are debuting at the museum of modern art in new york. not everyone may think they belong in the same building as other high art, but that has not spent -- kept the exhibition from breaking new ground. >> we are amongst today's first

museum videogames within a collection of art. we have games like tetris, pac- man. i believe this is just the beginning. i'm quite sure that in the future, we will move to other forms of software. the new warehouse collection will be a digital warehouse. people believe that video games do not belong in a museum, those people are in a dramatic minority. our videogames art? i believe they are. it is just a matter of time before the whole world believes that. >> games are really social now, like you're playing with each other on-line.

the games have always been social. with the internet, we just and large all of our basement. we do not have to be the same place to play with them. your friends do not have to go home. >> in golden ages to come, people are still working out a lot of questions right now about basic interaction and all of these different platforms. i do not think people have figured out what to do with all of them yet. i really want someone to feel this. i want someone to experience civil war battles. i will throw them into a whirling storm of 150 dodge ball. i do not think that will be it. through interaction, you can change the way people think. you can change the way people relate to one another.

>> a new exhibit their exploring the question of whether video games count as art. what do you think? i am on the fence myself. that brings today's forecast to a close. you can continue watching bbc world news from our 24-hour news network. simply check your local listings for channel number. thank you for watching. see you tomorrow. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, fidelity investments, union bank, and zte. ♪

bringing you closer. zte. >> your personal economy is made up of things that matter most, including your career. as those things change, fidelity can help you readjust your retirement plan, rethink how you are invested, and refocus as your career moves forward. wherever you are today, a fidelity ira has a wide range of investment choices that can fit your personal economy. fidelity investments. turn here. >> bbc world news was presented by kcet, los angeles.

guess what, neighbour? today we're going to visit... mr. mcfeely's post office! and then we're going to... baker aker's bakery! i'm so excited to spend the day with you. and i'll be right back. is made possible in part by... the richard king mellon foundation. dedicated for over sixty years to south western pennsylvania's quality of life, and competitive future. and by these pittsburg foundations. working together to enhance and enrich the lives of children for more than seventy-five years. and by the arthur vining davis foundations. dedicated to strengthening america's future through education. adcasting, dedicated to strengthening america's future

and contributions to your pbs station, from viewers like you. in the neighbourhood ♪ and contributions to your pbs station, ♪ a beautiful day for a neighbour ♪ ♪ would you be mine? ♪ could you be mine? ♪ won't you be my neighbour? - ♪ it's daniel tiger's neighborhood ♪ ♪ a land of make-believe ♪ won't you ride along with me? ♪ - ♪ ride along - ♪ it's daniel tiger's neighborhood ♪ ♪ so much to do, so much to see ♪ ♪ won't you ride along with me? ♪ - ♪ ride along - ♪ i've got lots of friends for you to meet ♪ ♪ in this land of make-believe ♪ a friendly face on every street ♪ just waiting to greet you ♪ it's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood ♪ ♪ a beautiful day for a neighbour ♪ ♪ in daniel tiger's neighborhood ♪ - hi, neighbour! i'm glad you're here.

dad and i are about to check the mail. check with us. - up you go. - look, we got a letter! (dad grunting) - ok. i wonder who it's from. - come on in. la, la, dee, doo, dee, doo, doo, la, la, la. - here we go. look. the letter is from grandpere tiger! - yay! grandpere! grandpere is my grandfather and your father, right? - right. let's see what he wrote. "hello. i'm having lots of adventures sailing. "i wanted you to see the big fish i saw. it's almost as big as daniel." - wow. - "i miss my tiger family and think you often. love, grandpere." awww, i miss grandpere. - i miss grandpere too. - but getting a letter from him makes me feel so happy because i love him. - yeah. i love grandpere.

and i love you. grr. - love you too, little tiger. i know, i'm going to go put grandpere's picture on the fridge. - did you see how happy my dad was? he really liked getting that letter. - hi, honey. what's that? - a letter from grandpere. it made dad really happy. - hmm, well, dad loves getting letters from people he cares about. - hmm... mom? do you think dad would like getting a letter from me? - he would love a letter from you. ♪ making something is one way to say, "i love you" ♪ - hey! i can make dad a letter with a picture and send it to him, just like grandpere's letter. ♪ making something is one way to say, "i love you" ♪ there. i drew a heart because i love dad. will you write the words? - all right. - dear dad.